I downloaded a ton of Christmas music today. I've been on a search for Christmas music that is not your standard Bing Crosby/Frank Sinatra fare, something produced by good modern rock musicians.
Berta and I were at the mall one Christmas and had stopped in the Guess store (in which we bought her a slinky dress... I wonder what closet that's in...) and they had the best Christmas music ever. Probably piped in by satellite, it was performed by people who you would hear on the regular radio at the time, not the classic oldies. It was great.
It's not to say I don't like the oldies, I just get tired of hearing the same ten performances over an over. I don't even mind the classic songs as long as they're performed by new artists. Even better would be a unique new song performed by a fresh artist.
Anyway, I downloaded a bunch of junk today. Probably nothing you haven't heard, but still reasonably fresh. Barenaked Ladies' Christmas album. The "Now" Christmas album (which has classics, but also has many new tunes). I had a few left over from last year's Pepsi iScam CD/iTunes fanatacism, too.
A little bit more recently, I had some ideas for a theme tune for that radio play I've been going on about forever, and I started to play some stuff for it on the guitar. Of course, this leaded to the re-tuning and breaking of my E string. Again. Bah.
I'm waiting for Fruity Loops Studio to download now. What I need is good tracker software. Doesn't anyone make good tracker software for modern Windows? Where is my Amiga when I need it?
Re tracker software, I haven't had a chance to use this one yet myself but the Renoise people currently have a public beta going with their product. There's also a list of trackers here that might point to something of interest. Haven't any experience with their most recent offerings, but I've had good results in the past with some of the products from the folk at Cakewalk. These days in composition I'm working with a more traditional/engraving interface, and tend to favor Sibelius in that area. Hope something there's of help.
Those are all pretty good suggestions, thanks!
I've had encounters with Sibelius before - trying to download some sheet music from elsewhere and needing a special plugin.
Fruity Loops Studio 5 isn't too bad. It's a lot different working with patches and sequences than I remember. Everything is too short, only 16 beats. Maybe I just remember music assembly on the computer a lot more differently than it actually happened when I did it.
Pretty much what Owen said regarding Fruity Loop -- it took me some getting used to. Maybe I just don't think that particular way?